A review of the most important medicinal herbs affecting giardiasis

Mohamad Reza Nazer,Morteza Shams,Khatereh Anbari,Saber Abbaszadeh

doi:10.15171/jhp.2019.13

Mohamad Reza Nazer, Morteza Shams + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.15171/jhp.2019.13

Copy DOI

Abstract

Infection due to the protozoa giardia is one of the most common parasitic infections in the world. Millions of people across the world acquire this infection each year. The most common clinical symptoms of giardiasis include abdominal pain, bloating and diarrhea, indigestion, epigastric pain, nausea, vomiting, and oily feces with bad smell. Drugs used for giardiasis lead to certain side effects, such as unpleasant taste in the mouth, gastrointestinal discomfort, nausea, headache and leukopenia. Considering the importance of giardiasis infection, it is essential to identify anti-parasitic herbal drugs to eliminate cystic and trophozoite types of this disease. Hence, this article is aimed to report the medicinal plants that are used in Iranian traditional medicine against giardiasis. The information in this review study was obtained from scientific articles indexed in databases such as ISI, PubMed, Scopus, SID, Magiran and Google Scholar that were retrieved using the search terms giardia, protozoa, herbs, extracts and essential oils. Medicinal plants such as Lavandula stoechas, Ferula assa-foetida, Tanacetum parthenium, Allium paradoxum, Chenopodium botrys, Carum copticum, Allium sativum, Artemisia annua, Allium ascalonicum, ZizIphora clinopodioides, Zataria multiflorahad, Eucalyptus globulus, Lippia beriandievi, Punica granatum are among the most important herbs used in Iranian herbal medicine as anti-giardiasis agents. These herbs are good candidates to produce natural and effective drugs for giardia.

Highlights

Giardiasis is a parasitic disease caused by a flagellated protozoa called Giardia lamblia, Giardia intestinalis or Giardia duodenalis [1,2]
The information in this review study was obtained from scientific articles indexed in databases such as ISI, PubMed, Scopus, SID, Magiran and Google Scholar that were retrieved using the search terms giardia, protozoa, herbs, extracts and essential oils
Medicinal plants such as Lavandula stoechas, Ferula assa-foetida, Tanacetum parthenium, Allium paradoxum, Chenopodium botrys, Carum copticum, Allium sativum, Artemisia annua, Allium ascalonicum, ZizIphora clinopodioides, Zataria multiflorahad, Eucalyptus globulus, Lippia beriandievi, Punica granatum are among the most important herbs used in Iranian herbal medicine as antigiardiasis agents

Summary

Introduction

Giardiasis is a parasitic disease caused by a flagellated protozoa called Giardia lamblia, Giardia intestinalis or Giardia duodenalis [1,2]. Infection caused by this parasite has been reported from all over the world, including various regions of Iran. Millions of people worldwide acquire this parasite every year [3] Transmission of this disease occurs through fecal-oral route, especially through contaminated food and water intake. The most important route of transmission is contaminated drinking water [4] The incidence of this infection has been observed in children more than other age groups [5]. Epigastric pain, nausea, vomiting, and fatty stools with bad smell [8,9]

Objectives

Results

Conclusion